Jiangxia County, Yunshe County.

When Sun Jian led his army south, he threatened to go straight to Changsha in the hope that he would be stationed along the way so as not to intercept him.

However, the person standing in front of Sun Jian was none other than Huang Zu, who had been attacking Nanyang for a long time. Speaking of which, looking at the entire Jingzhou, the Huang family of Jiangxia, the second largest family besides the Cai family, could also follow closely behind.

Before Sun Jian arrived in Jiangxia, he fought with Huang Zu's army. The two armies fought all the way from Nanyang to Jiangxia and fought for several days around Yunshe. In the end, Sun Jian was the better and occupied the county.

While Sun Jian's army was resting, Sun Jian also received a letter from King Bohai.

There is no doubt that Sun Jian attached great importance to King Bohai's letter.

But after reading the letter, Sun Jian was speechless for a while.

Why does King Bohai know so clearly about the situation of my Sun family?

It stands to reason that the two sides have no intersection, let alone friendship, and Sun Jian had previously sent Yuan Shu to conquer Luoyang, so he could be said to be the enemy of the King of Bohai. This sudden letter mentioned his eldest son Sun Ce, and also mentioned his younger son.

His son Sun Quan and even his wife Mrs. Wu were mentioned.

Sun Jian couldn't figure it out, so he summoned Cheng Pu and asked him something.

Cheng Pu said: "My lord, the letter from the King of Bohai seems to be a relationship, and it is obviously to win over. In fact, it is more like threatening my lord, not to betray the Han."

Sun Jian put aside the letter and strode back to his position as coach.

"We fought with blood for the Han Dynasty to quell the rebellion in Changsha, but the imperial court was kind enough to hand over Changsha to Liu Biao. Then Liu Biao colluded with several powerful families, so how could there be any place for us and others in the army?" Sun Jian scolded.

.

If Dong Zhuo hears this, he will definitely cry out: Why don't you just be your governor of Changsha? Why did you learn from Yuan Shao or Yuan Shu to raise an army to attack Dong? You have rebelled against me. How can I still provide for you?

In the beginning, it was indeed Sun Jian who joined the heroes in the fight against Dong in order to get closer to the gentry class.

Cheng Pu took a few steps forward, folded the letter and put it on the eucalyptus, and asked with a serious face: "My lord, will the King of Bohai come to conquer in person?"

"Probably not. Now that Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu are here, it won't be my turn yet." Sun Jian touched the beard on his upper lip, "But judging from how well he knows my Sun family, I'm afraid it will be my turn sooner or later, De Mou, I

When something needs to be done as soon as possible, we should base ourselves in Changsha!"

Cheng Pu nodded, "It's nothing to worry about Huang Zu, but the water system of Jiangxia is complicated, and Yunmengze is blocking it, so the march will be more difficult, unless we also have a naval force."

"Easier said than done."

Both of them were silent for a while, and then Sun Jian suddenly raised his head and looked at Cheng Pu.

"De Mou, what do you think if we surrender to the King of Bohai, how will he treat us?"

Cheng Pu thought for a while and said: "There is a saying that King Bohai takes the country as his own responsibility, which is rare among the clan. If you ask what will happen if you vote for him, my lord may as well look at Cao Mengde."

Cao Cao? Sun Jian thought about it. He and Cao Cao were both generals who conquered the Yellow Turbans.

Although Cao Cao started faster than him, he was a cavalry captain at first, but when he was in Nanyang, he was just a junior general under Zhu Jun. He led his army to attack Wan County and succeeded first, and made great achievements, and then he began to enter the court's sight.

Later, thanks to Sikong Zhang Wen's fancy, he was recruited to join the military. In the Battle of Meiyang, he defeated the Qiang and Liang rebels and was granted the title of General Polu and the Governor of Changsha.

At that time, Cao Cao was just a small prime minister of Jinan.

Then, he participated in the Chenliu League under the banner of Changsha Governor, but Cao Cao did not participate.

Now, his Changsha governor only has a seal and ribbon left, and Cao Cao has been recommended by the King of Bohai as the shepherd of Yanzhou.

Facts have proven that who is more popular with him, so Sun Jian suddenly asked this question.

"Alas, I can look at Cao Mengde, but I can't imitate him. There are people in Cao Mengde's court, and there are people in the clan, how can they compare to him?" Sun Jian sighed, "Alas... In this troubled world, you can only rely on yourself!"

While he was talking, Huang Gai suddenly came in with two whips in his hands, slashing hard.

"My lord, my lord, there is something going on over there in Changsha! Zhang Xian is coming to Jiangxia to help Huang Zu," Huang Gaihui reported.

"Well done, don't let him go back once he's here!" Sun Jian patted the table, took up his ancient ingot knife, and said, "De Mou, you and I will lead our armies separately to attack Huang Zu's camp tonight. Zhang Xian has arrived. Before that, we must defeat it!"

"Here!" Cheng Pu took the order.

…

Weijun, Yecheng.

Another wave of new battle reports were sent directly to Liu Qing's bookstore at an urgent rate.

In the past few days, Liu Qing had been communicating with Xun You about the details of the three-province and eight-department system. Liu Qing kept talking, but Xun You was extremely tired. Every slight change in the division of power would have a huge impact on the entire Jizhou. whole body.

At present, Liu Qing has also made preliminary decisions on several candidates.

Zhongshu Ling is held by Xun or, Meng Ling is temporarily held by Guo Jia, and Shangshu Ling is held by Tian Feng. In addition, Hubu Shangshu is in charge of household registration, treasury, and salary, and Xi Zhicai is in charge of it, and the farmland divided from it Dong Zhao, the prefect of Changshan, was also responsible for agricultural affairs such as water conservancy and water conservancy.

When the battle report came, Liu Qing naturally paid attention to the war first. Just as he was talking, Guo Jia opened the door and walked in.

"Lord, I heard that the army has reported for duty."

"Come and read together!" Liu Qing waved and began to open the letter in his hand.

Xu Huang and Gao Shun have successfully captured Yinque Pass along the way. The last barrier in Luoyang has been crossed. Now they only wait for Liu Qing's military order to attack Luoyang.

On the eastern front, starting from Qiao Rui's withdrawal from Gong County, the lake collapsed as soon as they withdrew. Zhang Liao and Zhang He were locked in step by step, while Zhao Yun on the northern front had nothing to do because there was no Yuan Shu army stationed in the Beimang Mountain area.

Based on the situation of each army, it is conceivable that after suffering a new round of setbacks, Yuan Shu's army once again shrank its defense line, and finally retracted its defense line into Luoyang City.

To the west, Li Feng had also fled back to Hangu Pass and stayed in seclusion.

Yuan Shu's escape to the west is still in his hands.

Among the pile of battle reports, Zhang Ning’s was the only one.

"A bold guess is that Zhang Ning either failed to achieve his set goal and failed to successfully capture Hangu Pass, or he is still attacking at this time. I think the second possibility is more likely." Liu Qing speculated.

"What my lord said is true. General Zhang... has the longest march, and Hangu Pass is steep and difficult. Although Li Feng is not a good fighter, he can probably do it behind closed doors, so Hangu Pass is the most difficult one." The Guguan battle report should arrive a day or two late." Guo Jiadao.

"Fengxiao, if Hangu Pass is not lost, what is the probability of Yuan Shuhui escaping through the new city passage?" Liu Qing asked.

"Less than 50%, my lord, the new city announcement passes through Yingchuan. Now Yingchuan is no longer the territory of his brother Yuan Shao, but the territory of the lord. There are many obstacles along the way. I think Niu Fu Li Ru's movements, Yuan Shu will not You will know nothing."

Therefore, Hangu Pass must be captured, so that Guo Jia's chain plan will be effective.

"In this case, the order to the three front armies Zhang Liao, Zhao Yun, and Gao Shun to attack Luoyang is not from this king, but to Hangu Pass. If Hangu is successful, it will be their siege order!"

"But my lord, what if Zhang Ning fails in the battle of Hangu Pass?" Xun You asked rhetorically, there is no 100% successful war.

"Lord, why don't we use a compromise method and order Zilong to bypass Luoyang, quickly make a detour to Hangu, and then attack Hangu with Zhang Ning from both inside and outside? This way, it will be much easier!" Guo Jiada said.

The main thing is that there are mountains and a river to the north of Luoyang, so there is no way out. Even if Yuan Shu crosses the river, Liu Qing's territory will still be in Hanoi, so Zhao Yun can be flexible.

"Okay, let's act accordingly!" Liu Qing said with great enthusiasm.

Just when Liu Qing and his staff were discussing how to help Zhang Ning, Zhang Ning was actually already in front of Hangu Pass, and the order to attack the city had been issued.

The reason for the delay in arriving was that Zhang Ning was not fully prepared.

Preparations for the attack on Hangu Pass.

Generally speaking, the city wall of Hangu Pass is higher than the ordinary city wall, which requires the siege ladder to be heightened. Zhang Ning, who personally participated in the garrison at Hangu Pass, deeply realized that the length of the siege ladder would increase the climbing distance of the soldiers.

With every additional point, the probability of death doubled, and the probability of ascending to the top of the city decreased rapidly.

There is no shortage of men under Li Feng's command. The Hangu Pass is full of mountains and rocks, and there is no shortage of materials to defend the city. Therefore, the only way to capture Hangu Pass is to attack it with strong troops and break it quickly.

The most powerful soldiers under Zhang Ning are the heavily armed Yellow Turban warriors.

But they had a problem. The ordinary city climbing stairs could not bear their weight, so Zhang Ning had to make other preparations. This was the reason for Zhang Ning's delay for many days.

After she occupied the Chichi, she collected iron tools everywhere, melted them all, and finally built four long iron ladders. She also tied long straight pieces of wood to the two pillars of the iron ladders to make them more stable and reliable.

When the yellow scarf warriors, covered with heavy armor, lined up in four rows and carried long iron ladders slowly approached the head of Hangu Pass, Li Feng, who was standing at the head of the city, felt a strong sense of oppression.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Ning did not use ordinary siege methods, but this strange and unheard-of method.

Li Feng understood that if they put the thing in their hands on the city wall, not to mention that the poles would not be able to open it, even the huge rocks would not be able to destroy it.

Moreover, he had seen the heavy armor of those Yellow Turban warriors in previous battles.

Don't be afraid of arrows missing, don't be afraid of swords and axes, and attacking the enemy with a large number of small stones on the city top may not be effective.

The yellow scarf warriors walked all the way to the bottom of the city and began to hold the iron up the wall, and then the yellow scarf warriors began to climb directly.

"Attack the big rocks, attack the big rocks!" Li Feng ordered quickly. He knew that no arrows or swords would be useless.

Soon, large rocks continued to fall down the ladder from the top of the city. Even if the yellow scarf warriors were wearing heavy armor and carrying shields, if they were hit by the large rocks lifted by several people, they would basically fall down. In serious cases, they would die.

The four ladders attacked together and climbed up. The top of the city was very busy, picking and choosing the big rocks to use first. However, after a few rounds, it was found that the big rocks were almost used.

Originally these large stones were prepared for the battering ram. When the battering ram hit the city gate, the large stones were used to destroy it.

With a small power, the climbing speed of the Yellow Turban Warriors suddenly became faster. However, compared with ordinary sieges, their speed was still much slower. They were wearing plate armor and their movements were really inflexible. When climbing the city, there would be

A big risk is that it will be knocked down directly from the city by a powerful attack.

Zhang Ning watched from a distance as the yellow turban warrior climbed higher and higher, raised the corners of his mouth and stretched out two fingers.

Yang Fengxin on the side understood the idea and immediately ordered: "Send out the battering ram!"

Zhang Ning had obviously simulated a siege battle in advance. The yellow scarf warriors and iron ladders would have the city head hit with boulders first. Once the boulders were consumed, the threat of the siege ram would be small or even gone.

A group of white wave soldiers held shields and quickly pushed the battering ram forward.

When Li Feng saw this, the alarm bells rang in his heart, and he immediately ordered: "Reinforce the city gate and put it up for me!"
To be continued...